At least the Aussies have some sense

Sounds like things over there aren't so much different from over here... the music lobby lies and cajoles in order to get its way and is always in bed with the government. Super lame. At least the Aussies have the sense to cut through this bullshit... some of the time.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,20713160%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

Article snippet:

Piracy statistics are labelled "self-serving hyperbole" in a draft government report.

A confidential briefing for the Attorney-General's Department, prepared by the Australian Institute of Criminology, lashes the music and software sectors.

The draft of the institute's intellectual property crime report, sighted by The Australian shows that copyright owners "failed to explain" how they reached financial loss statistics used in lobbying activities and court cases.

Figures for 2005 from the global Business Software Association showing $361 million a year of lost sales in Australia are "unverified and epistemologically unreliable", the report says.

BSAA chairman Jim Macnamara said the figure was an extrapolation, but other studies had supported it.

"They're entitled to say they're not convinced, but not necessarily entitled to say it's unverified," he said.

The study, which says some of the statistics used by copyright owners are "absurd", will be redrafted after senior researchers disagreed with its conclusions.

Painting a picture of an industry seething with competitive jealousies, the report describes how "well-connected Canberra-based lobbyists" fight for government attention and police time on piracy.